Gareth Gates looks forward to playing Wolverhampton Grand panto's Jack - interview

The singer and former Pop Idol runner-up was at Dudley Zoo for a publicity shoot yesterday ahead of rehearsals for Jack and The Beanstalk at Wolverhampton Grand this Christmas.

And he said: "The job has taken me all over the world, which is great, but I'm equally excited to be in Wolverhampton. I love panto. I remember being taken as a kid and longing to be up on the stage.

"Every opening night, I remember that magic I felt as a kid being taken to the panto at the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford, where I'm from, and I carry that feeling on stage with me."

Appearing with him will be former Emmerdale star Lisa Riley, who captured hearts playing the Slave Of The Ring in last year's Grand panto, Aladdin, and this year plays the Fairy.

Also returning by popular demand are the Black Country's favourite layabout Doreen Tipton, as Jack's neighbour, but playing herself, and Ian Adams, as Jack's mother, the panto dame, the part that has endeared him to tens of thousands of theatre-goers over the years.

The cast - minus Lisa - gathered at the zoo, which is sponsoring the panto again this year, during a brief window of opportunity before Gareth flies out to China and Malaysia for the rest of the Footloose tour.

His musical pedigree goes back to being head chorister for Bradford Cathedral Choir and performing a solo as a 13-year-old for the Queen to selling five million records around the globe and having five UK No 1 singles.

Outside this country, he was awarded Best International Male in 2004 by MTV viewers in in Asia, China and Taiwan. Four years later he donned sequins and lycra every Sunday night to take part in the ITV hit show Dancing On Ice, finishing a credible fourth.

After that he changed musical direction and accepted the lead in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, the first of many musical parts, and during this time also tackled his first panto.

Throughout it all, he has continued to battle with a once-crippling stammer and still uses a voice coach for occasions such as press interviews. "If I've learned the script and had the chance to settle into a part, there's no issue," he says.

"My part in Footloose is almost all dialogue, I've only got one song, so I've learned to control my stammer to a large extent. It only gets difficult occasionally doing press interviews when I'm asked about my life."

Looking impossibly toned and tanned after holidays in Marbella and St Tropez with partner, actress Faye Brooks - Coronation Street's Kate Connor - and his eight-year-old daughter Missy from a previous relationship, he is raring to go.

His plays comic character Willard in Footloose, so moving into the fun world of panto will be a seamless transition for the singer.

"I'd never done comedy before so it has set me up nicely for the doing panto - although panto has become part of my life now. This will be my eighth. It's nice playing the title role because I love being on stage.

"I'm a hard worker. If I'm going to take on a part, I want to be out there performing, not hanging about in the dressing room. It's all about the work ethic for me."

It was in 2002 that he famously rose to stardom in the UK's first Pop Idol, forerunner of X-Factor, The Voice and a host of other Saturday night talent shows.

"I'm 33 now, that was nearly 16 years ago, so I've spent half my life in the industry, something I could never have imagined when I went for that audition.

"The show was the first of its kind, long before X Factor, and no one had any idea what to expect. I certainly had no idea how big it would become or how my life would change. But all these years on, I still appreciate every minute of it."

*Jack and The Beanstalk runs at The Grand from December 9 to January 14